Alternative treatments for heartworms.

My male pitbull (bama) has come down with heartworms I'm pretty sure. I am taking him to the vet to get him tested when I get paid this week.

Anyways, I contacted the vet and asked about treatment options and prices. They quoted me 625 dollars to pump some toxic shit into him that might kill him anyways. When it comes to my babies, it's not that I won't spend top dollar to get them treated. It's just that I won't put anything into their bodies that I wouldn't put into mine. This goes for everything from flea stuff to other treatments.

I never had to deal with heartworms before; so after a little bit of research (google) I ran across many people and places that encourage the use of wormwood extracts, black walnut extracts, and other herbs in combination to kill the worms. I was wondering if anyone else had any experience with natural alternatives to treating heartworms?

I've had dogs all my life and I don't know of any alternative, natural remedies for heart worms. I think you're going to have to go the medicine route, though $625.00 seem awfully steep. It may depend on how advance the infestation is.

I would caution against holistic treatments. If they were largely effective, they would be used regularly. In situations such as this one can try the treatment, or perhaps put the dog down. The most important thing is not to let the dog suffer. If the herbal treatment was ineffective the dog would simply be dying in pain. Growing up on a farm, and living with six dogs, I have developed a rather live or die view concerning animal treatment. I wish you and your dog the best.

To be honest, you're probably better off doing the treatment despite the price because if you don't do something, sadly enough, your dog will still pass away, it happened to my dog once, the heart worms got to him quick and we found him dead one morning. Think of it this way, its like a risky brain surgery that has 50/50 chance of removing the tumor or killing him in the process, but its your only option. But if you don't want your dog to experience any pain from the treatment, then as sad as it makes me to say this.. you might want to consider putting it down. For future reference however, you should consider getting your dog this thing called "heart guard" not sure if you already give it to your dog, but it prevents heart worms and its not that expensive, one box is for a whole year. I give that to my dog and he's never gotten heartworms in the last 5 years. Also, be careful when feeding your dog, a lot of dog food brands put dead animals in their food.. but im sure you already knew that judging by what you said about not feeding them something you yourself wouldn't eat.

Any problem affecting the heart of an animal (or human) needs to be dealt with properly and natural medicine is probably the wrong route to take, these treatments have not been tested properly and while some people do have accounts of it working there is no way of knowing that it will work for your dog. $625 is a lot but it is also the best treatment your dog will get, the method you described is very effective and should get rid of the worms quickly and effectively, sometimes it is worth taking the risk if the reward will be as good as getting rid of a serious parasite.